And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the country thanks in part to a strong economy and tons of entertainment, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in Anchorage. Some neighborhoods aren’t as great as others.

So the question arises, which Anchorage neighborhoods are the worst, and which are the best?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Anchorage hoods need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Anchorage area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the neighborhoods to be amazing, although Hillside East ranks way above the rest.

We examined 36 of Anchorage’s neighborhoods to find out the worst places to live. These places don’t quite measure up to Anchorage’s reputation.

How we determined the worst Anchorage hoods

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We threw the following criteria into this analysis in order to get the best, most complete results possible. We used this set of criteria for each neighborhood in Anchorage:

High unemployment (Less jobs)

Low median income (Less pay)

Low population density (No things to do)

Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)

High crime (Estimated)

Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Anchorage for each of these criteria from worst to best.

Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criteria into a ‘Worst Score’.

The neighborhood with the lowest ‘Worst Score’ ranks as the worst neighborhood of Anchorage.

Read on below to learn more about these terrible places around Anchorage to live. Or skip to the end to see the list of all 36 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased. Hold on to your pants.

1. Downtown

Population: 1,196Median Income: $32,902Median Home Value: $91,175

2. Mountain View

Population: 7,980Median Income: $38,216Median Home Value: $95,270

3. Government Hill

Population: 1,394Median Income: $62,539Median Home Value: $116,000

4. Midtown

Population: 5,181Median Income: $47,639Median Home Value: $163,767

5. Fairview

Population: 7,272Median Income: $43,089Median Home Value: $163,889

6. Spenard

Population: 12,108Median Income: $53,215Median Home Value: $192,129

7. Russian Jack Park

Population: 11,648Median Income: $53,636Median Home Value: $189,325

8. Airport Heights

Population: 6,924Median Income: $62,070Median Home Value: $215,157

9. Taku-Campbell

Population: 13,010Median Income: $71,204Median Home Value: $215,125

10. Campbell Park

Population: 8,505Median Income: $66,541Median Home Value: $194,540

The ‘hoods around Anchorage that are really hoods

Well there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in Anchorage with Downtown landing at the bottom of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Anchorage aren’t all bad. Hillside East takes the cake as the best place to live in Anchorage.